The incumbent vice-president and secretary is one of three candidates standing in the election for the Mumbai Cricket Association presidency, made necessary by the death of Amol Kale.
The MCA has received three nominations from current vice-president Sanjay Naik, general secretary Ajinkya Naik and Bhushan Patil, who ran for the Congress against Union Minister Piyush Goyal in the recent Lok Sabha elections.
MCA will conduct the poll on July 23. Kale died in New York last month.
Sanjay, who served as MCA secretary before being elected as vice-chairman, said he was asked to contest the election by Mumbai BJP president and BCCI treasurer Ashish Shelar.
“Today, Ashish Shelar, leader of the Ashish Shelar Sharad Pawar group, has asked me to play. We will carry on the legacy of late president Amol Kher and work hard for cricket in the city,” he said.
“The new constitution required elections. Under the old constitution, if the top office fell vacant, the vice president would step up. We have received good response and trust from the electorate.”
Ajinkya said he had spoken to Pawar, a former ICC and BCCI president, and other senior MCA officials who had advised him to run for the chairman’s post.
“I spoke to Pawar and other senior members and constituents also came and said that I should run for MCA president. I have been a part of the MCA for quite some time and wanted to take forward the pending work which former president Amol Kale wanted to complete,” Ajinkya said.
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